An Unforgettable Love
by Percyjacksonfan3
Summary: Sally and Poseidon fell in love at Montauk Beach one summer. Or, at least, Sally did. Of Poseidon we're not so sure- until we are. Cute but angsty little one-shot about Percy's parents and the morning after his conception. No smut. Written for PJatO Ship Week Number 1, Poseidon/Sally. Rated for mentions of nudity but it's really nothing.


**Disclaimer: I don't own anything guys! The rights belong to Rick! I only wrote it for PJO Ship Weeks! **

***Takes place after the first night Poseidon and Sally….do the deed, if you get what I'm saying***

oooOOOooo

"I love you."

The words hung in the air around them, encompassing them. He heard her suck in a breath beside him and turned where he lay on the bed beside her. Making sure the blankets still covered them, propping his head on his arm to look down at her, Poseidon smiled softly down at Sally Jackson as if to make his words true.

Her answer shocked them into silence once again.

"No you don't."

She turned as well, making no effort to conceal her nudity from him as he had for her. He bit back a small smile at her action, weighed down by both love and an infinite sadness. Sadness because he knew this- all of this, here, this summer on this beach in this cabin at Montauk… it would end. Then Poseidon would go back, back into the sea that was his domain, back to his wife who was probably waiting to spit curses and his son who would look at him as if betrayed.

Deep down he would know they were right. But he wouldn't regret it and he knew that as well. He had known from the start that, somehow, Sally Jackson was different. She was smarter than anybody who wasn't an immortal had any right to be. More beautiful than anyone he could call to mind. She had gone through more things in her life than most mortals and it showed. She was careful, sometimes closed off. But he loved that about her because it made it all the more special when she opened up to him.

He was filled with love because Sally was absolutely amazing. And he did love her. He knew he did. Different from anybody he had ever been with before; Sally enraptured him, caught him and gave him no chances of escaping. He had stayed here all summer for her.

Why did he love her?

He couldn't tell you. He loved that she was unlike any other mortal and wouldn't care whether the blankets slipped from her body because he had already seen it all. She was confident and unashamed and that, more than anything, spoke to Poseidon. Everyone he knew these days was ashamed of something. Had regrets.

Zeus knew he did.

He had asked her once if she regretted anything.

She had said nothing.

"Well," she had amended a second later. "I regret not being able to know my parents longer. They died when I was only five after all. But there's nothing I could have done to change that."

He had taken her hand and shaken his head at her, overcome with wonder at this miraculous woman before him.

In his mind however, he had been silently wondering if she blamed Zeus for that plane crash that had taken her parents' lives. There was no doubt in Poseidon's mind it had been his brother, and he wondered, with a strike of real fear, if it had been because Zeus somehow knew Sally Jackson would be the mortal to make him break his oath.

He had put on a casual expression and gone on laughing with her, but inside guilt had started to blossom in his stomach. If Zeus really had brought down that plane for the sole reason that Sally's parents were on it… ultimately it was his, Poseidon's, own fault.

He never asked Zeus. He was always too afraid of the answer he would get.

Now Poseidon looked at Sally, genuine shock crossing his face. No one, mortal or immortal, had ever said anything remotely similar to her answer.

No one had acted as if they knew Poseidon better than he knew himself.

"What do you mean?" He murmured to her, pushing a stray piece of hair behind her ear and sending tingling shocks through them both. Was this her way of being shy? Maybe she didn't think anyone could love her?

Because the other option, the option of him actually not loving her…. it wasn't an option at all. Unthinkable now. They had come too far; Poseidon had come too far, for that to even be a possibility.

He loved Sally Jackson, was in love with her. Nobody, not even her herself, could convince him otherwise.

She smiled a small smile, soft but feeble. Her eyes that were the colour of the sea- a sign, Poseidon was sure- held sadness so profound and sharp that it made his stomach tighten.

Suddenly looking very vulnerable, Sally laid an arm across Poseidon's chest and moved to snuggle into his side, resting her head in the crook where his neck and shoulder joined.

"You're immortal." She said bluntly, but despite the soft tone Poseidon heard the aching pain and want in her voice. "Poseidon, we both know you're going to move on, find another woman to love… you can't love me. Love is eternal. It lasts forever." He felt her eyes close, her eyelashes fluttering against his skin. "I love you," she whispered. "But you don't love me. And that's okay; I understand."

"How can you-"

"You're married." Sally went on, cutting him off. For once in his life, he let her. "You have immortal children and an immortal wife to love you. They're the ones you love. I'm a mortal-nothing. I'm trivial. Here for one century- if that- and then gone in a blink of an eye."

"That's not true," he whispered.

She smiled weakly. "Isn't it? How many mortal women have you been with, Poseidon?"

"I-"With anybody else this subject would make him uncomfortable; but not with Sally. She didn't try to hide or pretend that he was something he wasn't. She had fallen in love with him knowing exactly who he was. She had accepted that he was immortal and genuinely wasn't angry- something he found extraordinary by itself.

What gave him pause was that he didn't know the answer to her question.

"A lot." He finished lamely.

She let out a breath and he wondered if she was disappointed. Maybe she had hoped it wasn't the same with him, he thought to himself, and his grip around her tightened.

If that was the case he felt horrible about disappointing her.

"You probably told most of them- if not all- that you loved them too. Right?"

Now he knew where she was going and the train of thought genuinely scared him. "Sally-"

"Now you can't even remember their names." She whispered.

The silence that followed was thick and suffocating. Finally Poseidon turned once more, gently pushing Sally off of his chest.

Determination filled his green eyes. "You're different." He whispered fiercely, reverently. "I don't think I could ever forget you."

She was sad, he saw, looking into her fractured eyes. Once again she forced a weak smile and he wondered just how long these thoughts had been plaguing her, that she was inconsequential. That she was worth no more than the countless names of his past.

If she could just stop trying to be strong for one damn second. But it just made him love her more and that made what she was saying hurt all the more and scare him.

What if he did forget her? Her smile, the way she smelled or the way she felt against him? What if he forgot days like this, these conversations he hadn't had with anybody else for millennium, if ever? He hadn't bared his soul to anybody in years, decades, centuries. Now Sally came along, making him feel like he had the first time he was in love, making him feel _human_, and the possibility of him not even being able to remember her name scared him to death.

"Will you still feel that way when I die?" She asked. "When in a thousand years I'll have been gone for hundreds of years, thousands of days? Billions of seconds?"

"I'll make you immortal." He said suddenly, certainty filling him. He would, he could. "I'll- I'll build you a palace under the sea, you can stay there. We can be together-"

"And Amphitrite?" She said, and he was even more surprised to see tears in her eyes now. "Triton? What would they think? What about the other Olympians, Zeus even? Would they let you do that, just for me? A silly human?"

"I'd make them." He said fiercely. "They wouldn't have a choice."

She smiled again, resting the palm of her hand on his cheek. "Poseidon," she said. "I could never do that to you."

"Are you saying no?" He demanded.

She must have seen the anger and hurt in his eyes but instead of being afraid, or even angry back, she just nodded. "Yes."

The only thing that stopped storms from erupting on oceans all around the globe was Poseidon seeing just as much pain and hurt in Sally's eyes.

"This is all we have." Sally said. "This summer. You have to go back to your life; I have to go back to mine. We both know that."

Poseidon felt like he was a little boy again, something he hadn't felt for millions of years. "I wish it wasn't like this."

His words lit something up in her eyes. "See, when you say _that_ I believe you," she said, "And it makes everything else okay."

He stared at her, at this woman who was the strongest, smartest person he ever knew. How could he not love her? How could anybody not love her?

And it was that moment that Poseidon knew with 100% certainty that there was absolutely no chance of him forgetting her, this mortal he was hopelessly in love with. Everyone else, anyone else, he could. He could let go and eventually move on from. But not her.

That was the best he was going to get. Memories.

It broke his heart. But it made it stronger too.

"I'm in love with you," he whispered to her.

He kissed her before she could have a chance to deny it again.

oooOOOooo

**So this ended up being a bit more angsty than I intended but I actually like it. This is supposed to be just one day out of the summer Poseidon and Sally fell for each other. As of this point they've only slept together once so Percy is pretty much nonexistent. I love this couple's relationship and am definitely planning on writing more for them in the future.**

**Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out my future stories for this year's PJO Ship Week challenge!**

**Love you all! **

**Percyjacksonfan3**


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